No Jitter is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

ADTRAN Seals The Deal With UC Server

Back in the early fall, ADTRAN acquired Objectworld, a Canadian Microsoft Gold partner that made a sticky UC product to run on MS Server. What's interesting and explains more to me in the way of design questions is that the Objectworld server fills the void where the IAD or the IPT7000 series missed a few areas. Not only does the UC Server close some gaps but it also adds some elegance to the ADTRAN IPT solution.What's really cool is that the server placement is on either end of the demarc, which means new money for hosted providers and carriers using the ADTRAN IPT solution; more opportunities for large distributed enterprise; and UC solutions for standalone IPT installations. ADTRAN didn't forget about legacy and other telephony solutions either, because their UC Server solution will fit in with them too. While there is no physical sever offering yet, ADTRAN will likely provide one soon.

The key point to remember about ADTRAN with regards to positioning--don't forget to consider that when they say they use numerous (1,700+) products in the last mile, you are going to find them at both ends of the demarc. Now in case you haven't been following ADTRAN or are new to the ADTRAN fold, here's a brief history from the archives:

* ADTRAN Pushes The Convergence Window * Adtran's All-In-One "Office In A Box" * Why ADTRAN? * ADTRAN Interoperability with Cisco * ADTRAN Scores with MSPs * ADTRAN's Secret Sauce * ADTRAN Aligns IPT Forces * ADTRAN's VQM Delivers

Here's the ADTRAN UC lineup:

* NetVanta Unified Communications Server--Is a software-only unified communications application that complements one or more existing PBXs and scales to 2,000 or more users per server. The fit is easy for those without UC who find themselves with the same or numerous telephony platforms that can be glued together using the ADTRAN solution.

* NetVanta Business Communications System--A hardware/software bundle combining ADTRAN's NetVanta 7000 Series IP PBXs and the NetVanta UC Server and scales up to 100 users per unit. This package, designed for replacement or new, installs for a total ADTRAN solution.

* NetVanta EnterpriseCommunications Server--A software-only UC/VoIP solution with integral IP PBX and centralized UC support for external PBXs targeting larger enterprise applications and scaling from 75 to 2,000 users per server.

* NetVanta Business Application Server--An add-on solution to add advanced unified communications capabilities like Interactive Voice Response (IVR), out-calling services, and ODBC database access for customized business process integration.

I think what is encouragingly different about ADTRAN's progress is that it is purposeful and effective. Customers want to see consistency and constant improvement and I think ADTRAN is spot on. Let me add that I also see ADTRAN providing some old TDM magic--creating customers for life. Again, review the archives above and consider ADTRAN's progress in IPT and I see a good road ahead for ADTRAN being successful in enterprise voice and why wouldn't they be--they already are in data.

Both products need to be easy to use (as my Mac), so scheduling is a key component that I think needs adding, so conferences or any other collaborated calendar event is accomplished by one click of the mouse. Another pressing issue for any IP conference user is the need to devise a methodology to prevent sucking the bandwidth dry when large or corporate wide conferences occur. This means a box in the cloud or a connection to a service provider in the cloud from the premise conference server. There's no need for multiple audio paths to come into the conference center but there is a need for an intelligent solution with some call control. This need is something everyone needs to come to terms with and sooner is better than later.

UC systems, including telephony solutions, can no longer remain static. This is the one customer beef that comes up over and over again. Businesses don't want to rip out today's solution to get tomorrow's benefit. The sustainability agenda is valid and this means solutions adopted today must last longer. Another boundary that ADTRAN is stepping outside of--offering software only. For a long-time hardware manufacturer it's notable. ADTRAN appears to be also moving towards providing customers choices in which telephones to purchase, by selling software only as an option, again this is a pretty big deviation for a hardware manufacturer.

The channel will be challenged because UC Server (software) requires a server (hardware platform). The channel consists of several folds: pure IT companies/partners, TDM companies/partners and TDM companies/partners with varying degrees of networking skills, carriers (Tier I & II), smaller carriers, ISPs and MSPs. Then, considering ADTRAN's track record (history from the archives above), they are a manufacturer with skin in the game and their name means a lot more than just some slick marketing.

Last comment I want to make is that the ADTRAN UC Server as it currently stands today, is a good fit for the education market. I missed their guest speaker, Don Reece from Pembina Trails School Division in Manitoba, but Blair Pleasant posted a really cool interview. When Jeff Wissing, Senior Product Manager of UC Server and David Schenkel, Objectworld CTO demonstrated the UC Server and discussed the "paging server" my ears perked up. The schools that we serve all have common threads of interest. The telephones, paging systems, clocks and even environmental controls can be converged into one IP network. Then, there are processes within schools that the UC Server can simplify. An emergency notification system is also in the minds of everyone in the education industry. The ADTRAN UC Server is a good match especially for education and if your network consists of all those Blackberry and smart phone devices -the ADTRAN UC solution begs your attention.